Payoneer finds huge opportunity in cross-border B2B payments

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Uma Kannan, August 20, 2016, Bengaluru, DHNS,

Aug 19 2016, 23:05pm ist

updated: Aug 19 2016, 23:05pm ist

Getting payments for cross-border trade is not easy given the time it takes, and rates involved in transferring funds to one’s local currency. But at the same time, entrepreneurs are upping their reach foraying into global markets, and what they need in order to increase their businesses, is cost-effective currency conversions, among others.

With the increasing number of players in the Indian payment arena, and also sensing the need, New York-based Payoneer, which was founded in 2005, is betting big on India, having commenced its Indian operations in 2015.

In an interaction with DH, Rohit Kulkarni, who heads the India operations for Payoneer, said, “India is one of the fastest growing markets for us. If you take India, there are BPOs, software services and ecommerce companies having overseas clients, and the opportunity here is huge.” A recent study says the global business-to-consumer cross-border ecommerce market will reach $1 trillion in 2020, and there are more than two billion buyers. “What we do is that we connect businesses, professionals, countries and currencies,” he said.

Payoneer enables millions of businesses and professionals from more than 200 countries to grow globally by facilitating seamless and cross-border payments. “Leading corporations including Airbnb, Getty Images, Google and Upwork rely on our mass payout services. We have over 2,000 partners and three million users,” he said.

At present, it focuses only on getting paid in India, whereas in other countries, it operates on both — paying and getting paid. “There are huge opportunities out there for SMEs, freelancers, and others. We work only in the B2B space. If you take freelancers alone, there are over 15 million, and India alone constitutes 40% of the world’s freelancers. What they are looking for is a simple payment procedure and less time involved in such payments,” he said, adding that Payoneer charges 2% for currency conversion. “The time taken for transfer of payment is two to four working days,” he added.

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